The non-invasive treatment that thickens the look of eyebrows in 30 minutes

2020 has been a year of many lows - I don’t need to go into a list of reasons why. But in the beauty world, this has also been the year that the sales of eyebrow products have sky-rocketed. In recent research by The NPD Group, it was found that since the start of lockdown, eyebrow products are up by a staggering 78 percent compared to the same time last year. Because while you can’t really wear lipstick under a mask, you can certainly up the stakes in the eye and brow make-up department.  

The nation’s appetite for brow treatments has never been stronger, either. As someone who has threaded her brows every three weeks for the past 15 years (yes, really) I didn’t think I’d need a different type of brow treatment. But then I tried ‘brow lamination’ earlier this week and it has vastly improved the look of my eyebrows. Eyebrow lamination is a form of brow perming, setting the hairs into a new position using a chemical process.

Essentially, your brow hairs are brushed up straight and fixed in place. Although it sounds drastic, it immediately gives the brows a thicker appearance (so it is great if you have over-plucked brows) and opens up the eye area for a more ‘bright-eyed’ appearance. It's particularly effective if you have unruly eyebrow hairs, too - no wonder it’s been dubbed “brow-tox”. 

‘Brow lamination is a technique that has been used for years, but has become very popular in the past year,’ says the brow specialist Daxita Vaghela, who performs the £75 brow-fixing treatment at the Atherton Cox salon in London. She applies keratin to the brow hairs, too, to help thicken and condition the look of the eyebrows and encourage growth over a number of weeks.  The fixed, brushed up look lasts up to eight weeks.

Although the trend has been popular on social media with younger Gen Z-ers, it’s particularly brilliant for women over 35 looking for a lifted look around the eyes. My new eyebrows are only a week in, and I’m sold. If you’re still unsure whether to take the plunge, here are some of the best new eyebrow products to buy now.